


Word

by Aki_of_Eyluvial



Category: The Almighty Johnsons
Genre: Character Death, Gen, first word, last word
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 06:03:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15479220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aki_of_Eyluvial/pseuds/Aki_of_Eyluvial
Summary: Based on the "one word" list of Aramirandme81"Word: Anders’ first word was Mike which made Mike smile. It was also his last which made Mike cry."





	Word

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aramirandme81](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aramirandme81/gifts).



> First fanfic in the Fandom. English is not my first language but I try my best.

It took Anders three and half years to talk. Before he barely made some yessing noises or shook his head, but never ever spoke. Mom and dad weren't exactly worried, and Mike even remembered hearing them commenting on how quiet it was without a kid talking gibberish all the time.

Mike could understand his little brother in his own way just by looking at his big blue eyes, so expressive and kind, and sometimes sad, and full of words that never reached his mouth. But Mike did understand him.

Until he was three and half and Mike came home from school in a hurry, fully knowing that his father wasn't home and mother probably already left for work, or whatever she was doing. All leaving Anders on his own. He opened the door and left the backpack by the door with his shoes and walked carefully, and maybe even a bit scared, in the house.

A curly blond head came out of the couch, blue eyes suddenly lighting up as the boy saw his brother, and Mike sighed in relief. Anders scrambled down the couch, his little bare feet slapping on the floor as he run to him and hugged his leg looking up and beaming happily at him.

"Mike!" he exclaimed and Mike was sure his heart stopped in that moment. Warmth and happiness spread in his chest, he smiled, and laughed as he picked his brother up in his arms and carried him around the house, never letting him go.

His first word, first of many but then Mike never complained, not at the time, and anyway Anders spoke better of most of the kids, was his name. Not mom's or dad's, but Mike. And he would treasure that for the rest of his life.

~~~

In the end Mike wasn't sure of what happened, maybe it had to do with having two other brothers to protect from their parents, maybe their parents seemed to love them better, maybe he shouldn't have left with Val and Rob when he turned twenty-one and leave Anders to take care of them, just to return and pick up where he left. He could see why Ty was so upset when he sent Anders away, they had a bond, something that once was between the two older, and Ty loved Anders much more than Mike. Or so he claimed and Mike had no right to say it was the opposite because as father always said, actions speak louder than words. And he left them. 

In the end they grew apart only to reunite for Axl's twenty-one cerimony, and after that everything went to shit. More shit than before.

Until in a fit of rage Axl threw him in a pile of rubble, slashing his neck and leaving him to bleed to death. Mike didn't thought something like this would happen, he wanted to run after Axl but he couldn't move, he couldn't tear his eyes away from the small body lying on the ground in the dirt, in rubble he was supposed to take away the day before, as Olaf tried to keep him awake and Ty to stop the bleeding, his eyes scared as never before, his voice hitching as he called him, as he begged him, tears he refused to spill clouding his vision. 

Mike took a few steps toward him, fell on his knees by his side, hands hovering uncertain as Michelle run to take something, he didn't knew what, he didn't cared, his little brother was dying and he couldn't talk or help.

Anders' eyes fluttered open for a moment, looking at him, unfocused and tired, his eyes not so blue as they used to be, a dull gray, full of sadness and regret, Mike noticed how they look just like the day before, and the one before, now he wondered what happened to his blue eyes, where did they go, when he stopped noticing the difference. Anders patted a hand against Ty's leg and smiled, blood pouring slowly and lips slightly blue, then he looked up at Mike again and the oldest didn't knew what to say, he run a hand in his hair, not so curly now that he kept them short, but still soft. He wished they were kids again, when a hug and a kiss could make everything better, but they weren't, and Anders was dying. 

"Mike..." he whispered with a small smile, then he closed his eyes, his lips parted as the last word left his mouth. Breath got caught in Mike's throat, he let out a strangled noise as Ty's calls became more urgent and scared, as he mumbled a sequence of "no no no no" unable to stop, as tears rolled down his cheeks and his heart broke. Mike's heart stopped instead, like it happened all those years ago when anders said his name for the first time, but instead of warmth he felt ice running in his veins, a hole swallowing his chest and leaving him hollow and numb. Why did that happened? Why anders had to say that, of all things? Why his last word, carried on a last breath, had to be his name? - he knew, deep down, somewhere at the bottom of this new hole, he knew the answer. Anders always looked up to him, and he never stopped after growing up, after he sent him away, after they reunited, in his own way, with his own words. Because their father was right on something. Actions were always louder than words, and Anders never screamed, but his actions, the real ones, the look in his eyes, he loved them much more than what he would say, he would die for them. He did. Because without him, without Bragi, Axl and Gaia could be together. And Anders loved Mike, he always did, and his name held so much more power and memories than any other thing. Mike knew, deep down, but it didn't helped mend his heart. - 

When Michelle arrived, the branch of Yggdrasil in her hands, a golden glow was lifting toward the sky, it stilled a second as Mike looked up, tears in his eyes, an apology on the tip of his tongue and for a moment he thought he saw a figure, a face in this golden glow, winking at him and smiling, a promise to meet again one day, in Asgard maybe, or in another life. Then the glow was gone, and so was their brother. 


End file.
